Good food is very important to having a
nice (and interesting) trip. Give yourself a
chance to taste authentic
local Chinese cuisine,
away from the tourist restaurants. Read on to find out the differences
between tourist restaurants and local restaurants in China.

Tourist Restaurants — Convenient, Over-Priced, Mundane Food

Restaurants at a tourist area

Tourist restaurants are set up around tourist areas and routes. The customers
are almost all travelers, and you can see them having meals with cameras and bags
(and their coach parked outside). The restaurants are filled with different
accents from different areas, and the dining environment can be very crowded.

Quick Service

Travelers
may be tired, hungry, and perhaps in a hurry to get to the next destination. Tourist
restaurants offer a quick solution to such tourists. The menu is simple and easy to order from. They
usually mass purchase the same food material from big suppliers all year round.

The largest
benefit is that travelers can finish a meal
quickly and continue the trip or sightseeing. But quick service might be a
down side if you have special dietary needs. For example, staff don't have the
time (or mandate) to prepare food differently if you have an allergy.

Over-Priced — But Maybe a Good View

There are some well-located tourist restaurants
in areas like West Lake. You can get a good view of the lake from a restaurant window
while you eat. But the food is often over-priced (you pay for the location). This
sort of restaurant is avoided by Chinese who appreciate good local cuisine.

Not all tourist restaurants have a good
location, but then the food should be
cheaper…

Standardized, Predictable Taste

Snack street

Chinese
people often say that food served to tourists "all tastes the same". Dishes
on the menu at tourist restaurants are
usually standardized to suit as many (Chinese) people as possible. You won't
get Western food, but these might be good options if you really don't like the
local taste (e.g. too spicy).

Snack streets can be examples of "tourist
restaurants", and nearly every popular city has one. Travelers search for a
snack street to taste delicious (local) snacks. But actually the snacks may all
taste the same as in other cities: fried food, barbecue, hotpot, milk tea, etc.
If you have visited one in China, don't expect novelty in the next city.

Local Restaurants — Food in Season, Authentic, no English

Fresh food in season

Local
restaurants have many loyal local customers.
It's not that local restaurants are only for locals, but people in the know
generally prefer local restaurants, that's for sure.

Fresh Food in Season

Dishes
of local restaurants vary seasonally. The cooks generally prepare fresh local produce for customers in
season. Or you can ask the waiter, e.g. what vegetables are available at the
moment.

Secret Recipes

The food in local restaurants is authentic and original. Chefs have
their own secret recipes, passedon through the "generations". You can taste genuine
local food, though it might not be to your taste.

No English

Don't expect any English to be spoken. The menu is usually only in Chinese characters, though some
restaurants display pictures of the dishes. When you enter the restaurant, you will
probably hear loud chatting in local dialects, which you may find a little
noisy.

Get the Real Thing, Not Touristy
Food

Roast duck

You
may have grown used to the bland Chinese
food you get at the restaurants in your country, and that is the sort of
food you'd find at a tourist restaurant, except more "Chinese" than Western in
flavor.

When
touring China, experience the real tastes of the many regional
cuisines. Chinese love a variety of tastes and
sensations during a meal, and they eat many foods you will not be accustomed
to. You'll miss this culinary experience at Chinese restaurants geared to serve
busloads of tourists.

Have Local Food with China Highlights

We take our customers to carefully-selected authentic local restaurants, not to "tourist restaurants" that serve the
same old boring food in the same old boring way. See more on Why Choose Us.

Just as we make our "no shops"
promise to steer our tours away from the tourist trap markets and shops, we
try to choose restaurants for our customers that will be a memorable local experience in a nice authentically
Chinese environment.

Recommended Tours

China Highlight's tours are
designed to reveal the
"local colors" and give you a chance to experience the local tastes. Try some new flavors and
food. See
our recommended tours below for inspiration:

Not interested in the above tours? Our tours can be customized.
Just tell us your interests and requirements (including any food
preferences/needs/allergies), and China Highlights will create a
China tourfor you.